In the midst of a recession, African-Americans purchased more than 320,000 new cars between January and July of this year. This represents 7.1 percent of all new cars bought. In 2008, African Americans purchased 520,993 vehicles or eight percent of the total of all new cars, as opposed to in 2007 when this group bought 626,905 new cars or nearly nine percent of all the new cars purchased. The recession impacted new-vehicle sales in 2008 with the African American community and the general market.
The data from Polk also showed that while Toyota had 48,680 African-American new car buyers for the first seven months of this year, Lincoln, a division of Ford had the largest percentage of African-Americans (10%) among all of its buyers during the same period. Conversely, African Americans only represent 7% of all of Toyota new-vehicle buyers. As you can see, there is an opportunity for Toyota along with other automakers to step up their marketing activities to grab more African American new-vehicle buyers just like Lincoln.
Overall, personal new vehicle registrations declined nearly 10.4 percent in 2008, and fell an additional 30.6 percent so far in 2009. African American new vehicle purchases posted declines of 16.9 percent in 2008 and 38.5 percent in 2009. Thus, these numbers reflect the influence the African American market is having in driving new-vehicle sales in the midst of a recession. Since the year isn't over yet and these number don't reflect the boost in sales from the government-run 'Cash for Clunkers' program the drive for automakers to attract more African Americans is up for grabs.
Cars Purchased by African-Americans Jan.-July 2009
| Rank | Make/Model | African-American | General Market | African-Amer % |
| 1 | Lincoln | 3,464 | 35,251 | 9.83% |
| 2 | Nissan | 28,767 | 301,473 | 9.54% |
| 3 | Cadillac | 4,068 | 43,102 | 9.44% |
| 4 | Kia | 10,813 | 115,520 | 9.36% |
| 5 | Mitsubishi | 2,491 | 26,820 | 9.29% |
| 6 | Chrysler | 7,216 | 83,976 | 8.59% |
| 7 | Mercury | 3,005 | 38,391 | 7.83% |
| 8 | Dodge | 18,071 | 234,180 | 7.72% |
| 9 | Chevrolet | 35,012 | 474,529 | 7.38% |
| 10 | Saturn | 3,092 | 42,052 | 7.35% |
| 11 | Hyundai | 12,469 | 172,389 | 7.23% |
| 12 | Ford | 34,730 | 486,652 | 7.14% |
| 13 | Toyota | 48,680 | 696,855 | 6.99% |
| 14 | Buick | 3,288 | 47,948 | 6.86% |
| 15 | Pontiac | 5,679 | 82,821 | 6.86% |
| 16 | GMC | 7,138 | 104,779 | 6.81% |
| 17 | Infiniti | 2,438 | 36,514 | 6.68% |
| 18 | Honda | 36,526 | 551,432 | 6.62% |
| 19 | Mercedes-Benz | 5,530 | 84,368 | 6.55% |
| 20 | Mazda | 6,360 | 98,583 | 6.45% |
| 21 | Acura | 3,466 | 54,644 | 6.34% |
| 22 | Jeep | 8,032 | 131,678 | 6.10% |
| 23 | Volkswagen | 6,182 | 104,476 | 5.92% |
| 24 | BMW | 5,495 | 92,981 | 5.91% |
| 25 | Volvo | 1,652 | 28,395 | 5.82% |
| 26 | Lexus | 5,275 | 93,353 | 5.65% |
| 27 | MINI | 1,224 | 23,231 | 5.27% |
| 28 | Audi | 1,681 | 38,998 | 4.31% |
| 29 | Subaru | 3,703 | 97,529 | 3.80% |
Source: R.L. Polk presentation data from Rainbow PUSH
Automotive Symposium, Oct. 2009. Rankings by percentage
of African-American new car buyers.
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